Gauteng hosts rail safety summit just days after fatal crash

The Gauteng government is hosting a two-day summit aimed at “tackling topics that are sure to raise a nerve with the users of rail” at the weekend.

It comes at the end of a week that saw two Metrorail trains collide head-on between Kaalfontein and Tembisa‚ leaving one dead and 243 injured.

After Tuesday’s crash‚ Metrorail Lillian Mofokeng insisted that rail is “still the safest mode of public transport” and said the preliminary cause of the crash was "human error".

The Gauteng Provincial Legislature said its summit – to be held on Friday and Saturday – will give “train commuters an opportunity to air their views and suggestions with organised formations to process and account to”.

Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Roads and Transport Jacob Khawe noted that the “rail system has been inundated with inefficiencies and delays that have a socio-impact on commuters”.

“In retaliation commuters embarked on wrong ways by setting fire on trains. Breakdowns and track theft have also been a common problem for this transport mode in Gauteng‚” he added.

While “remedial actions were initiated by the Transport Department to help curb some of the challenges experienced with the public rail system”‚ Khawe asked: “Months on‚ has the rail network system improved and delivering reliable transport to commuters?”

He said the summit will “bring together organised formations of the rail transport sector - Rail Safety Regulator‚ Rapid Rail Unit‚ United Commuters Voice‚ Prasa/Metrorail‚ Department of Community Safety‚ Transnet Freight Rail‚ and Department of Roads and Transport - to deliberate‚ report and propose regulations centered around the topics for discussion to come out with possible approaches to improve rail transport”.

The “remedial actions” referred to by Khawe were made after two major crashes in the period of four months in 2015.

In July that year‚ 250 people were hospitalised when a train collided into the back of a stationary train between the Booysens and Crown Mines stations; in April‚ a security guard was killed and 240 people injured when two trains collided at the Denver train station during the morning peak.

– TMG Digital